Apple reveals redesigned iPad Pro tablets with USB-C and no home button
They're finally here. Apple today unveiled two new iPad Pros during a press event in Brooklyn, New York.
It's the first time Apple has updated the iPad Pro lineup since June 2017, and the new tablets are much more than a simple refresh -- they're a total redesign.
The new iPad Pro comes in both 11-inch and 12.9-inch variations, which start at $799 and $999 respectively. But, thanks to barely-there bezels, both tablets are much smaller than their predecessors. The tablets are also significantly thinner and have rounded corners.
The new set of iPad Pros are Apple's first tablets to ditch the home button in favor of FaceID, much like the iPhone X. This means the tablets have a similar edge-to-edge display as the recent iPhones, though, notably, there isn't a display notch to accommodate the TrueDepth camera sensors.
But Apple has engineered FaceID so that it will work whether your holding the iPad in portrait or landscape orientation.
They're also the first iPads to use USB-C ports instead of Apple's Lightning connector. While this means that, yes, you'll have to ditch your old chargers and accessories, USB-C allows for greater flexibility in terms of what you can connect it to.
Ditching the USB-C port means you can connect the iPad Pro directly to external displays, cameras, and other devices. You can also use it to charge your iPhone from the tablet, if you have a USB-C to Lightning cable.
Whether a switch to USB-C in the iPad Pro line signals a bigger shift at Apple, however, remains to be seen. There have been reports the company plans to switch up the connectors in its iPhones in 2019, though it's still too far out to give too much credence to those rumors. At the very least, though, the change to the iPad Pro shows that Apple is willing to make the change in some cases.
They're also the first iPads to follow the iPhone X's lead and ditch the headphone jack, meaning you'll have to opt for bluetooth headphones or buy a new headphone dongle (Apple makes one for $9).
The new iPad Pro models also come with a redesigned $129 Apple Pencil stylus that connects magnetically to charge wirelessly.
Apple also gave its Smart Keyboard accessory a new design (now called the "Smart Keyboard Folio"), to accommodate the iPad Pro's new look. It costs $179 for the smaller iPad and $199 for the larger tablet.
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Under the hood, Apple has also made some major upgrades to its Pro tablets. The new iPads are powered by Apple's new A12X Bionic chip, which make the tablets faster and help enable their 10-hour battery life.
As it has at previous events, Apple touted the tablets as a key tool for creative professionals, and showed off new apps onstage. We got a closer look at Adobe's new Photoshop app for iPad, which brings the full power of the desktop software to the tablet.
The iPad Pro has always been Apple's most premium tablet, and the price of the latest models reflect that. The 11-Inch iPad Pro is $799 for the 64GB model, $949 for 256GB, $1,149 for 512GB, and $1,549 for 1TB of storage.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is $999 for 64GB, $1,149 for 256GB, $1,349 for 512GB, and $1,749 for 1TB of storage.
Both models are also available with cellular, which adds an additional $150 to the price.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
